LITTLE JACK RABBIT STUBS HIS TOE
Cocky Doodle stood by the Big Red Barn and clapped his wings. Then digging his feet well into the ground, he began his morning cock-a-doodle-do.
Mr. Merry Sun lifted his head from his crimson pillows and looked over the misty hilltop.
"Time for me to get up," he yawned. "Cocky Doodle is calling."
Teddy Turtle crawled along the Old Cow Path to the Old Duck Pond. He didn't see Little Jack Rabbit hopping over the grass. Teddy is so slow that he never thinks any one can go faster. So it was only when the little rabbit stubbed his toe on the little turtle's hard shell house that he woke up. Of course he wasn't really asleep but he might just as well have been.
"You ought to know better than to go to sleep right in the Old Cow Path," said the little bunny, rubbing his toe. "Why don't you keep your head out to see where you're going if you walk in your sleep?"
"I pulled my head inside my shell when you hit me, as all well-trained turtles do in time of danger," answered Teddy Turtle.
"Goodness, I wouldn't be afraid of anything if I had a strong shell house like yours to creep into."
"Well, I'm not afraid of anybody except the Miller's Boy," said Teddy Turtle. "But when he turns me over on my back I'm helpless."
"Where are you going?" asked the little rabbit.
"Down to the Old Duck Pond. I'm going to sleep in the soft mud for the winter," answered Teddy Turtle.
"Well, goodby," said the little rabbit, hopping off to the Old Farm Yard.
"Cock-a-doodle-do," sang Cocky Doodle. "I hope everybody is awake. There comes Mr. Merry Sun up the sky. Cock-a-doodle-do. Everybody gets up when I call. Do you hear Billy Breeze singing over the Sunny Meadow? I wake the Little People of the Shady Forest and the Sunny Meadow every morning. Cock-a-doodle-do."
Yes, sir. This little rooster was better than an alarm clock, for you didn't have to wind him. He crowed every morning his cheerful song to help the old world wag along.